Part 1: On Imagination | Why bother?
Where has all the imagination gone? Does it matter?
Hello all, and Happy Friday. :)
Yesterday on the R&W podcast, Rhea and I released one of our bonus OAI (Occasional Articles of Interest) episodes. We discussed a chapter from Shannon Reed’s, Why We Read: On Bookworms, Libraries, and Just One More Page Before Lights Out. It was a fun episode to record, and ties in nicely to our current R&W deep read: Lincoln in the Bardo. I hope you’ll go over to the podcast and take a listen.
In the episode, Rhea asked a question I want to consider with you today:
How do we grow our imagination? How do we help others grow their imaginations, too?
Rhea was asking specific to her role as an educator in the public school system. The question in real time was asked in the opposite direction. That is, how do we help kids grow their imaginations? The larger question arises from there.
My initial thought was to wonder what horrible thing has gone wrong that she has to ask this in the first place? Of all human beings, kids ought to be the most imaginative. The question should be, “How do we not squelch children’s already burgeoning imaginations? or, What can we learn from the imaginative minds of children for fostering imagination in ourselves? There is something deeply broken in our societal and cultural moment when, by middle school, a decades-long, devoted, master educator is looking around and wondering, where has all the imagination gone?
This is an important question, and plenty of more qualified writers are doing fascinating work on this unfortunate phenomena of our late-modern age. My goal here, and on R&W, is to (hopefully) offer opportunities into a more beautiful way.
If you are reading this, my guess is you are already sympathetic to the imagination and its flourishing. And yet, I wonder how many of us (myself included) tend to think of imagination as an “extra.” Or even as a thing only gifted to those “creative types.”
When people say, “I have no imagination,” or even, “I’m not creative at all,” what they are really saying is that imagination isn’t something everyone is born with. You either got it or you don’t. And let’s be honest, half the people you know who are “imaginative” you secretly think are weird. Like crazy Cousin Eddie.
Poor imagination. Not only do we treat it like a rare bird only landing on a few, but we’re suspicious of that bird—even as we tout its beauties—and a little terrified it will land on us.
The truth is we all have an imagination. We don’t get a choice in the matter. Just as we are born with lungs, bones, blood, brain, and intellect, so we are born with imagination.
Janine Langan puts it this way:
The imagination makes images out of the chaotic influx of our sense perceptions. We tend to stress the artificial and free-floating dimension of the process, as evidenced by the way in which the dictionary defines imagination as “forming a mental concept of what is not actually present to the senses.” We forget that none of our conscious intercourse with the world around us is free from imagination’s input. As Rudolph Arnheim points out in Visual Thinking, seeing itself banks on the imaging, simplifying, and interpretive power of the imagination. Its project is to propose a picture of the world in which we can fit, with which we can interact. It is purposive and selective; it proposes patterns. Any imaging of the world already orients our response to what it offers, and our perceptions already seduce, repel, and fascinate before the will and the intellect kick in. Hence the importance of a healthy imagination: We access all reality, past, present and future, through its screen. It colors our view of ourselves in the world from the ground up.
-from essay, “The Christian Imagination”1 (italics mine)
Northrop Frye in his book, The Educated Imagination, states it simply:
The constructs of the imagination tell us things about human life that we don’t get in any other way.
As Langan says above, we access all reality through our imagination. Every input that comes through our senses is interpreted and formed by our imagination so we can then interact with it.
It isn’t a matter of having or not having imagination. It’s a matter of whether or not we have, as Langan suggests, a healthy imagination. Everything you think and everything you do—how you approach your job, your marriage, your parenting, your every-single-relationship; from how you love your neighbor to how you move through conflict—is all directly connected to your imaginative capacity.
A more concrete way to understand imagination is as a muscle, or muscle group (you’ll see). We all have muscles. With the proper exercise and nutrition, our muscles grow; they become capable of greater loads and propel us to achieve harder physical endeavors, as well as support us in the regular functions of our daily lives. If we don’t exercise our muscles they atrophy. Not only do we become incapable of extraordinary physical efforts (like half-marathons, or CrossFit competitions), but slowly, over time, we become limited in our everyday physical activities as well.
We can also have imbalanced or ‘malformed’ muscles (this where the muscle group comes in). You know these guys. They’re the guys walking around the gym with their arms awkwardly bent looking not “swole and flexy,” but just plain “swole”.
Maybe this way of thinking of imagination is a little crude. It certainly isn’t a romantic or ephemeral way of imagining this entity in us that moves us directly toward the romantic and ephemeral.
But, maybe its the image we need for our present moment. Maybe if training our imaginations received as much practical attention as training our muscles do, Rhea wouldn’t have to ask the question, how do we help kids grow their imaginations? in the first place.
Or how about this: Maybe if we had healthy imaginations we wouldn’t act so vitriolic toward those who don’t share our political views. Maybe there would be less broken relationships in general. Less broken identities. Less fractured churches.
Maybe. I think it’s possible.
I think it's definitely worth the effort.
In fact, I would say our lives depend on it.
I didn’t start this post intending to make it another two part essay. But, I’m pushing my word count (I am of the old guard when it comes to how long online articles should be. It’s because I’m old). And, I thought it important to set up the “why” before diving into the “how.”
Also, I’d love to hear from you. There are a multitude of ways to grow a healthy imagination. Share your thoughts, resources, and ideas in the comments section, and I will incorporate them into next week’s post.
May your time between now and our next time together be full of imaginative pursuits and play!
Much Love,
Shari
This essay can be found in The Christian Imagination, edited by Leland Ryken
I love the analogy of muscles to bring the idea of a healthy imagination to life. I cannot wait to read part two. Your essay also helped me realize that I, too, have an imagination and I have been treating it like the odd person in the room.